214 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



have been here for years, I am interested 

 in knowing exactly hoiv he did it. I 

 want to get right down to the root and 

 foundation, to discover the principle up- 

 on which he succeeded. If a man fails in 

 business, especially one who has been 

 apparent!}' successful for many years, I 

 am interested in knowing why he failed. 

 In such cases there is almost always 

 something wrong. I do not mean wick- 

 ed, but not managed as it ought to have 

 been. The causes of failures are numer- 

 ous, and the one that leads to a particu- 

 lar failu-e is sometimes the least suspect- 

 ed by the unfortunate man who is mak- 

 ing the mistake. Some merchants have 

 failed from employing cheap, inefficient 

 help, under the mistaken idea that they 

 were practicing economy. Others have 

 greatly assisted their success by an op- 

 posite course. Some have failed from a 

 lack of advertising of the right kind. 

 Others have succeeded because of their 

 excellent advertising methods. Others 

 have failed because they did not keep up 

 with the times. Their methods were all 

 right for thirty years ago, but not ap- 

 propriate for this age of steam and elec- 

 tricity. The time was when a man 

 could sit in his office and wait for busi- 

 ness to come to him. That day has pass- 

 ed. Now he nmst go after the business 

 — and hustle, too, while he is about it. A 

 new merchant comes into a town where 

 the merchants are of the old class; he re- 

 novates the store from top to bottom, 

 outside and in, uses paper and paint and 

 plate glass; makes a handsome display in 

 his windows; changes this display quite 

 often; puts in a telephone; has a nice de- 

 livery wagon; uses column after column, 

 perhaps page after page in the local pa- 

 per; in short, leaves no stone unturned to 

 boom his business; if his other methods 

 of business are correct, he gets the trade; 

 and men who have been in business for 

 years, but have been in a rut, so to speak, 

 will go down — if any body goes down. 



I was quite interested in the way that 

 Mr. Davenport sold his honey at a good 

 price by advertising it in the local papers. 



as described in this issue of the Review. 

 This is an illustration of the advantages 

 that may be gained by catching the 

 spirit of the times. A merchant in a 

 small town would find it dollars well 

 spent if he would made a visit to the 

 stores in some large city — simply that he 

 might catch the spirit of the times. I do 

 not mean that he could profitably put in- 

 to practice all of the methods that he 

 would see, but, what he would see would 

 help him to get out of a rut and into 

 more modern and more profitable ways of 

 doing business. The way of doing things 

 makes such a vast difference in the suc- 

 cess or failure of any undertaking. I saw 

 an illustration yesterday right from my 

 office window. A man came along sel- 

 ling strawberries. He sat up straight on 

 his wagon seat and bawled " s-t-r-a-w- 

 berries." I saw w;^ woman come out 

 and buy some berries. A short time 

 after two women came along selling ber- 

 ries. One woman drove the horse, and 

 the other took a box of berries in her 

 hand and called at the door of each 

 house and showed her berries. There 

 was scarcely a house at which she failed 

 to make a sale. 



If the manufacturer of some line of 

 apiarian goods, whose goods are of the 

 very best quality, would go at it in the 

 right way, he could have the lead in the 

 trade in that line of goods. The goods 

 would have to be advertised in a telling; 

 striking, unique manner. Some com- 

 mission man in Chicago might receive 

 the lion's share of the consignments of 

 honey if he would advertise himself and 

 his business in the right way. The same 

 might be said of a commission man in 

 New York; or any city, for that matter. 

 The trouble is that so man}' of us are in- 

 clined to keep along in the Same old 

 way, instead of striking out and catching 

 the spirit of the times. 



Bee-keepers ought to read all of the 

 journals, visit other bee-keepers, and at- 

 tend c(mventions. They, as well as 

 others, need to catch the spirit of the 

 times. 



